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In
a posting on a blog called “3L Epiphany” (“32
Court Cases Cite Blogs”), cited by several sources regularly
covered by the Law.com
Blog Network, the writer lists the “32 court citations
of legal blogs from 27 different cases, with 8 legal blogs being
cited.” Indeed, last April Harvard University sponsored a
symposium on the subject, How
Blogs Are Transforming Legal Scholarship. Technorati, an internet
search engine focused on the world of weblogs, reported that the
number
of blogs had been doubling every six months since March of 2003.
At that time, last spring, they estimated that there were 34.5 million
active blogs in the universe of such things.
This
is not a fad, anymore than email is/was a fad. Yes, blogs –
or “blawgs,” as they are called in the legal milieu
-- are akin to the “buzz” of word-of-mouth marketing.
They are usually more conversational, opinionated, casual, and less
fact-checked than your typical print-published piece. But it has
now become routine for any large law firm to have at least a handful
of lawyers writing their own blogs, each of which focuses on the
lawyer’s own areas of expertise and interest. The Wall Street
Journal Online Law Blog has been giving semi-personal blogs plenty
of publicity with their feature “Law Blog Lawyer of the Day.”
A few of those profiled so far include:
• Tarek
Ismail of Bartlit Beck;
• Fred
Ridley of Foley & Lardner;
• Glen
Nager of Jones Day;
• Robert
Goldman of Fox Rothschild;
• Ted
Chervin of Broder Webb;
• Mortimer
Caplin of Caplin & Drysdale; and
• Neal
Katyal, law professor at Georgetown University.
Writing
a blog is not for everyone. Apparently, doing so has resulted in
some lawyers being shown the door at their firms, and some litigators
being reprimanded by the judges of their cases. And reading blogs
may not be for everyone. The idea is that you would tune in to a
blog only if it focuses on a topic that interests you, especially
if it interests you professionally. Guidelines and advice are abundant
– everything from the ethics of blogging, to the marketing
of and by blogging can easily be found online. In fact, if you still
don’t understand how to set up an RSS feed – or know
what that means in getting yourself into the blogosphere --try a
Google search (“how to set up an RSS feed”). Or go to
Bloglines.com or Technorati.com – aggregators of blogs. Or
visit Law.com’s Blog Network.
In
the meantime, I’ve been enjoying the experience of blogging.
Though the ALM
Research Blog is primarily about sources of information, data,
competitive intelligence, search engines, legal research, surveys,
and lists and rankings of interest to the legal industry, we occasionally
publish something more personal, e.g. Chuck Lowry’s reflections
on New Orleans (December 21, 2005) and my own reflections on
Celebrities
and The Law as a practice area (August 9, 2006), and Critique
of PowerPoint (June 5, 2006).
If
you haven’t perused the ALM
Research Blog yet, please do look it over. It doesn’t
cost a thing. You’ll find a link to the blog on the home page
of ALM
Research Online under the section called “ALM Research
Toolbox.”
Until the next issue,
Margaret
Daisley, Editor
ALM Research NewsLine
mdaisley@msn.com
917-847-7445
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